Northwest Fishing Reports

Just curious, I've got my methods pretty well dialed in but it's always cool to see what others are using as bait and what their favorite traps/pots are for their pursuit of crab.

My favorite? I really do well using smelt, shad, herring, and flounder. Flounder is usually pretty easy, since I can go out, catch a few, bait my trap, then drop my pots for those tasty dungies!

I believe that you definitely need to "match the hatch" when it comes to crab. While they are pretty big eaters, I seem to do much better when using bait that they typically eat...Flounder, dead baitfish (herring, etc) Salmon has just never produced as much as other baits...

My traps? Those cheap Danielson pots always outcrab any other pot I put out there. I don't know how or why, and my uncle swears the same thing, they work much better. Plus, Joes usually sticks em for sale for like $16.99 a few times outta the year. Just zip tie a piece of rebar to the bottom, set up a 4 way harness, and then get yourself 100 feet of line and a float, stuff a baitcage and then stick it in there...



What about the rest of you?

oily fish like shad or herring work for crabs and crawdads alike.

I like those pots too, but I do more crabbing of piers/docks where I pull the pots every 20 min or so. If there is a bunch of us crabbing I will throw 2 of those out and not check them until we leave, but the rings work better when everybody wants to pull them every few minutes.

Bait, I have found fresh turkey and chicken are the only this to use out of des moines, but I throw a little chum salmon in the ring too, dont know if it helps.

When I go out to the coast i use all my left over salmon/trout/crappie guts/fillets. It seems like the stinkier the better out there. I yank all the stuff out of the freezer let it thaw for 2 weeks in a cooler. Take it out chop it up with a hachet and a butchers knife and make mixed bags with a little bit of every species divided up in bait boxes. Then I throw it back in the freezer and 1 week before I head to westport I put it back in the freezer to thaw. Its the nastiest smell in the world, sometimes you cant even have the windows rolled down on the trip to westport and evertime you stop you can see all the flys flock to the bed of my truck. One time a warden just "had" to check my cooler (I did kind of lead him on pretending that I was hiding something though). He slamed that cooler lid real quick.

gpc wrote:I like those pots too, but I do more crabbing of piers/docks where I pull the pots every 20 min or so. If there is a bunch of us crabbing I will throw 2 of those out and not check them until we leave, but the rings work better when everybody wants to pull them every few minutes.

yea I should clarify. I use the traps more often now because I let my pots sit for many hours at a time. Pots, or ring nets, are much more effective when you are pulling your traps as often as say 15 or 30 minutes...

That's a nasty smeling cooler gpc...Last time I left a fish in a cooler, it rotted for 2 weeks and turned to a brown liquid...Needless to say, the cooler was no longer needed...Couldn't get the smell outta that thing...

Sam Kafelafish wrote:

gpc wrote:I like those pots too, but I do more crabbing of piers/docks where I pull the pots every 20 min or so. If there is a bunch of us crabbing I will throw 2 of those out and not check them until we leave, but the rings work better when everybody wants to pull them every few minutes.

yea I should clarify. I use the traps more often now because I let my pots sit for many hours at a time. Pots, or ring nets, are much more effective when you are pulling your traps as often as say 15 or 30 minutes...

That's a nasty smeling cooler gpc...Last time I left a fish in a cooler, it rotted for 2 weeks and turned to a brown liquid...Needless to say, the cooler was no longer needed...Couldn't get the smell outta that thing...

Yeah that type of crabbing is much better done with the pots that you use, a good 5 hour soak, it seems like it takes the crabs longer to figure those traps out, but once there in there in.

Oh yeah if you leave a fish in a cooler for 2 weeks its mush after that. But when the fish is frozen solid its still in a "solid" form after 2 weeks, just very nasty. I have a cooler for crab bait only, it would be unsantitary to keep anything else in that cooler after that

I've been crabbing a long time.I dont spend too much on fancy traps because in the Puget sound region pots sometimes dissapear for some reason.Sometimes the current takes them out and at times Ive seen people pull more then their own traps.For that reason I use the Danielson traps.I use a bait cage. I use primarily turkey parts or chicken.Ive gotten both Red Rock and Dungies using that bait.If I have freezer dried salmon or herring I'll use them also.It really depends on where I'm crabbing at.I've been crabbing in 8.2 for the past few years and have limited each time.I buy my turkey parts right after Thanksgiving when legs and thighs are cheapest.

hey rac,to stop the current from moving your pots,wire some rebar on the bottom.they stay were you put em and the bars stay were you wire them.home depot has bars with holes in them ,think there used for cement.i have wired 4 of these in each trap ans havent had a problem,and the weight doesnt seem to affect the ace either.i saw all the heads and guts from last year in those cardboard milk containers.when its time to use,cut the container away and put it in the bait holder.its kinda like a time release..

mics wrote:hey rac,to stop the current from moving your pots,wire some rebar on the bottom.they stay were you put em and the bars stay were you wire them.home depot has bars with holes in them ,think there used for cement.i have wired 4 of these in each trap ans havent had a problem,and the weight doesnt seem to affect the ace either.i saw all the heads and guts from last year in those cardboard milk containers.when its time to use,cut the container away and put it in the bait holder.its kinda like a time release..

I dont think you need any holes in em...Just simply cinch some zip ties in a few spots to the bottom of the traps..

I'm going to Westport this weekend for the clam dig, does anyone know if you can crab there off the piers?

kzoo wrote:I'm going to Westport this weekend for the clam dig, does anyone know if you can crab there off the piers?

yes, you can.

kzoo wrote:I'm going to Westport this weekend for the clam dig, does anyone know if you can crab there off the piers?

Sure can, if you dont have any pots you can even rent them for $5 a day. Look around at the charter boat offices and you can get a bag of bait for $1. But some places will charge more. Dont get the bait from the gas station at the outside of town (cheveron I think) they over charge for their bait. I always crab from the very first dock, right by the Harbor Resort. I do pretty well there. Most places the seals will only rob your pots if you are using fish for bait, but at wetport they will even rip chicken out of your pots, and there are seals all over in the boat basin.

If you get bored throw some hearring on a 4/0 hook and some wire leader and throw it off the fishing board walk, its pretty easy to nail a few dog fish.

sam your right ,you dont have to,but when we first got into crap and shrimpin we used reg rebar ,after a while the wire and ties would become loose and then the bars would slip out and were rockin and rolling in the cages.so then we found for the same price as the rebar,h/d had some bars with holes already drilled.now when the wire or tie wraps loosen the bars dont slip out from under.because the wire or ties go thru the bar .this may not work for evrybody,just a thing that made my life alittle easyier.

mics wrote:sam your right ,you dont have to,but when we first got into crap and shrimpin we used reg rebar ,after a while the wire and ties would become loose and then the bars would slip out and were rockin and rolling in the cages.so then we found for the same price as the rebar,h/d had some bars with holes already drilled.now when the wire or tie wraps loosen the bars dont slip out from under.because the wire or ties go thru the bar .this may not work for evrybody,just a thing that made my life alittle easyier.

Yea I guess if it's the same price why not. Would make your life a little easier....

Okay.

Bait: Shad and squallyfish (which is why I have standing orders in with shad fishermen for their catch thanks to WL.com )
Salmon HEADS only, no body no guts. Tends to be a seal-getter bait though.

Pots: Commercial 30-42" round pots with fold-open top doors. Make sure they are 100% all the same metal, as an electrical charge can result with differing metals, repelling crab. Plastic wrap is a nice addition as well.

Baitboxes: Wire mesh with clips. Keeps them interested without losing baitbags or fighting with zipties.

Rope: Leadline. Its just common courtesy.

Floats: Get the rattiest garbage floats you can. If the floats look worse than the guy's floats that is out stealing crab, he probably wont pull yours.

E

Gisteppo, thats very interesting about using the same medal, I have never heard that before. Is there any more info you have regarding that topic? Or how can you tell if your pot is the same medal or not?

Gisteppo wrote:
Floats: Get the rattiest garbage floats you can. If the floats look worse than the guy's floats that is out stealing crab, he probably wont pull yours.

E

We do the same thing. I take flourescent green spray paint and hit that float up pretty good with it. My neighbors like throwing theirs into the ground and do it with brown or black spray paint, but I think with a bright green coat, the thieves will go find the pots with the float and a stand and flag. Those are the nicest pots out there usually, and the ones that are targets for the pot thieves...

Dissimilar metals in saltwater will always create an electric charge, it just depends on the metals as to how strong that charge is.

Remember science class? You put two metals (probably zinc and lead) into a bath with a wire attached to each. They began to bubble and the wires were able to produce a light charge. Same concept, but it works on everything.

Many boats in the salt environment deal with electrolysis in some fashion. For those of us in small craft, our outdrives always have zincs attached to them, which serves as the anode. Any charge is dissipated by that metal degrading. Large metal ships have MASSIVE networks of zincs to prevent the metal of the boat hull from creating this charge against things like bearings, shafts and props, which are of different metals (brass) than the hull.

Same reaction in a crab pot. If you dropped an aluminum pot with pieces of mild steel rebar in it, they will begin to create a charge and degrade the aluminum, pitting it. Conversely, if you put a piece of rebar in a mild steel pot, there will not be a reaction.

E

Sam Kafelafish wrote:

Gisteppo wrote:
Floats: Get the rattiest garbage floats you can. If the floats look worse than the guy's floats that is out stealing crab, he probably wont pull yours.

E

We do the same thing. I take flourescent green spray paint and hit that float up pretty good with it. My neighbors like throwing theirs into the ground and do it with brown or black spray paint, but I think with a bright green coat, the thieves will go find the pots with the float and a stand and flag. Those are the nicest pots out there usually, and the ones that are targets for the pot thieves...

FYI Page 137 of the regs require floats/buoys for crab gear to be half red and half white. Whether or not a person will get a ticket for a non-red/white float, I guess depends on the mood of the enforcement officers. I heard that they've been very strict on rules (handing out lots of tickets) in the last 2 years, for various violations.

Shad_Eating_Grin wrote:

Sam Kafelafish wrote:

Gisteppo wrote:
Floats: Get the rattiest garbage floats you can. If the floats look worse than the guy's floats that is out stealing crab, he probably wont pull yours.

E

We do the same thing. I take flourescent green spray paint and hit that float up pretty good with it. My neighbors like throwing theirs into the ground and do it with brown or black spray paint, but I think with a bright green coat, the thieves will go find the pots with the float and a stand and flag. Those are the nicest pots out there usually, and the ones that are targets for the pot thieves...

FYI Page 137 of the regs require floats/buoys for crab gear to be half red and half white. Whether or not a person will get a ticket for a non-red/white float, I guess depends on the mood of the enforcement officers. I heard that they've been very strict on rules (handing out lots of tickets) in the last 2 years, for various violations.

I don't crab where the masses are. My floats are red and white to start, and even after some flourescent green paint, you can still see the red/white float. I'm not exactly worried about getting a ticket for it...